Archive for November, 2011

Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain has his photo taken with a supporter after speaking at a campaign rally on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio. AP/Jay LaPrete

When Ted Turner established WTBS as the first satellite-bounced, 24-hour TV station in the late 1970s, Bill Tush was the young fellow tasked with providing much of the station’s after-hours content.

His comedy newscast – he was a poor man’s Jon Stewart with neckties as wide as a mobile home — made Tush something of a national cult figure, though he concedes that much of his young audience was probably either drunk or stoned.

Tush is now semi-retired and a member of the Eagle’s Landing Country Club in Stockbridge. Off the links and over several months of drinks and conversation, Tush made the acquaintance of a fellow club member named Herman Cain.

“I knew he had been the president of a pizza company. And he had a radio gig,” Tush said this week. Other topics – politics, say – never came up.

“I’ve always been …

Continue reading The compartmentalized life of Herman Cain »

The anti-tax group Club for Growth, a prime source of campaign contributions, issued a warning today to former Georgia congressman Bob Barr: If he mounts a Republican challenge to U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, they’ll back their tea-party favorite:

“Tom Graves is a champion of economic freedom and deserves re-election,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “He has been an outstanding member of Congress and a leader in the pro-growth cause. The Club for Growth PAC will work hard for his reelection and we are confident Club members will enthusiastically support his campaign.”

“Bob Barr’s record has significant flaws,” added Chocola. “Bob Barr voted for No Child Left Behind, to raise the debt limit, and to raise his own pay. If Bob Barr runs against Tom Graves, the Club for Growth PAC will work to educate Georgia voters about Bob Barr’s record of supporting bigger government.”

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect …

Continue reading Club for Growth warns Bob Barr against run for Congress »

Following up her debut on local Atlanta television, Ginger White went national today with an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” — where she declared herself disappointed that Herman Cain, with whom White says she had a 13-year affair, is calling her “troubled.”

From the Associated Press summary:

She told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that her relationship with Cain was “a very casual affair. Am I proud to admit that? No, I am not.”

White also said she took several trips with Cain, including a flight to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield boxing match.

She also said that she had “consistently” received gifts and money from Cain over the past two and a half years, but added that this was “not sex for cash.”

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The alleged relationship with Ginger White cost Herman Cain a key supporter in New Hampshire on Tuesday. From the Associated Press:

New Hampshire state Rep. William Panek endorsed Cain at a news conference earlier this year. But he changed his mind …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Ginger White says Herman Cain took her to Tyson-Holyfield match »

Earlier this month, U.S Rep. Steve King, a Republican from the all-important state of Iowa, declared that the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment several weeks ago were probable “liberal activists” and “official hyperventilaters of the first order.”

My AJC colleague Daniel Malloy in Washington ran into King today – and he sounded much less certain. Said King:

”There’s been a series of these and by now it surely has to be shutting off or shutting down the fundraising that’s coming to Herman Cain. And whether or not the allegations are true, it looks to me like it’s going to be very hard for him to be able to breathe life back into this campaign. That is it. You like to think the facts on this can come out, and come out right away, and people can look at the truth and make an objective decision.

“They’re asking questions and just that, asking questions, has diminished the momentum of his campaign. I don’t want to give advice to a man who’s carried the race this …

Continue reading A stark assessment of Herman Cain’s chances from an Iowan congressman »

Continue reading Newt Gingrich: Herman Cain has ‘right to try to recover’ »

We’re getting slightly mixed message from Herman Cain’s campaign staff on whether the candidate intends to remain in the Republican presidential hunt. From the Associated Press in Atlanta:

Herman Cain’s Iowa campaign chairman [says] that the candidate is reassessing his presidential campaign a day after an Atlanta businesswoman alleged a 13-year extramarital affair with the Republican.

Steve Grubbs says that on a conference call with senior staff early Tuesday, Cain said the allegations have taken an emotional toll on his family but that he’s moving ahead with the campaign.

Still, Grubbs said Cain told his staff he would be reassessing how to move forward given that the allegations have damaged his fundraising.

The Iowa chairman said Cain still planned to deliver a foreign policy speech in Michigan later Tuesday.

On the other hand, Daniel Malloy, the AJC’s man in Washington, just got off the phone with Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon, who sent this note:

Gordon acknowledged that …

Continue reading Herman Cain ‘reassessing’ his presidential bid »

Atlanta radio talk show host Neal Boortz said this morning that it may be time for Herman Cain to think about dropping out of the GOP race for president.

Why does this matter? Because the Cain campaign on Monday touted Boortz as one of several VIPs slated to attend the Saturday morning opening of a new Georgia headquarters in DeKalb County.

Like Boortz, Cain was a featured voice on AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB, until shortly before he began his run for president.

On Tuesday, a caller brought up the topic of Ginger White, the Dunwoody woman who says she had a 13-year consensual affair with Cain that ended earlier this year. Cain has forcefully denied anything improper – but said he was attempting to help the woman financially.

Said Boortz:

”I know Herman Cain. This does not sound like Herman Cain to me. It doesn’t sound like him…..Additionally, it is very curious to me that every allegation against Herman Cain has come from his three years at the national restaurant …

Continue reading Neal Boortz: It may be time for Herman Cain to think about leaving race »

As the rest of the political world pondered the news of his alleged 13-year relationship with an now-unemployed businesswoman, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was defending himself at a D.C. fundraiser. From The Daily Caller:

Washington, D.C. attorney Mary Brett, who attended the event, [said] Cain swore to supporters that if he had a Bible, he’d put his hand on it and vow that the allegations are false.

“He said you’re probably going to hear — if you didn’t before you got here — another allegation about a 13-year affair and it’s absolutely not true,” Brett, who lives in Reston, recalled as she left the Hilton hotel where the event was held.

Late last night, Ginger White, the woman who said she had an off-and-on, consensual affair with Cain, told Channel 2 Action News that the candidate’s denial doesn’t surprise her.

“I can’t imagine him actually confirming. It’s the name of the game, I guess,” she said. See it here:

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Don’t forget that Republican presidential …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Give Herman Cain a Bible, and he’ll swear it’s not true »

A local Atlanta businesswoman went on local television this evening to declare that she had had a 13-year, “off-and-on” relationship with GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain.

“It was pretty simple. It wasn’t complicated. I was aware that he was married. I was also aware that I was involved in a very inappropriate situation,” Ginger White said in a televised interview with Fox 5 Atlanta reporter Dale Russell.

Ginger White poses for a photo near Dunwoody, Ga. on Monday. In an explosive allegation, White said Monday she and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair that lasted nearly until the former businessman announced his candidacy for the White House several months ago. AP/Greg Bluestein

In a move to pre-empt the report, Cain went to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer an hour before the Fox 5 broadcast, where he pointed to the report as the latest attempt to smear his candidacy.

Earlier this month, Cain’s rocketing candidacy was hit with accusations of …

Continue reading Atlanta woman says she and Herman Cain had 13-year, ‘off-and-on’ affair »

Through September and most of October, the magic phrase for GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain was “9-9-9.”

His campaign is attempting to return to that simple message with this five-minute video explaining the details of a plan that would reduce personal and corporate income tax rates to 9 percent, but would also levy a new 9 percent national sales tax:

Obviously, it’s that last “9” that bothers many conservatives. Watch how Cain handles the topic. Here’s a taste of the script:

“What if all these hidden business taxes were based on a flat 9 percent, instead of 30 or 40 percent? Pretty soon, the marginal costs of production would drop, and that loaf of bread gets a lot cheaper to make. Thus, a lower price at the store. When the new 9 percent national sales tax gets factored in, our out-of-pocket costs at the store stay about the same. Maybe a little less than they were before. But now we know exactly when we’re being taxed, and when we’re not….

“Anyone nervous about …

Continue reading Herman Cain’s YouTube pitch for a 9 percent sales tax »